The Cernian Secret
by knownobody
Summary: A few weeks after the defeat of the aparoids, Pepper sends the Star Fox team on a scouting mission to find out what is going on near Fichina, but lately Fox has had something on his mind, and Krystal is afraid it may put him in danger
1. Chapter 1

I Knownobody hereby acknowledge that I do NOT own Star Fox. This is my first Star Fox story, so please be nice. This takes place after Assault, but command NEVER happens

_**The Cernian Secret**_

**Chapter 1**

In the wake after the Lylat War, the Lylat System had been trying to recover. As Corneria struggled to rebuild, it refitted its army with new ships, weapons, and tactics. The Star Fox mercenary team led by Fox McCloud had been sent to the distant planet of Sauria at the time. Upon returning to the Lylat System, the people where surprised to see that the legendary mercenary squadron had a new member. Many even started spreading rumors. Now consisting of five members, Fox McCloud as team leader, Falco Lombardi as first officer, Slippy Toad as chief mechanic, Peppy Hare as the team's advisor, and the new Krystal as the team's telepath, the Star Fox team had been able to relax.

That was until Andrew Oikonny, nephew of Andross, heir to the Venom Empire, and former member of Star Wolf decided to try and wage war against Corneria with the remnants of the Venom fleet. The two forces met at and fought a vicious battle in orbit around the planet Fortuna. The battle was cut short as a new force neared its face, the deadly apariods. The fight against the aparoid menace became priority one for the Star Fox team. After battle after battle, the Cornerian researchers managed to locate the source of the aparoids. Thanks to the joint effort of Star Fox and Star Wolf, two rival mercenary squadrons, the aparoids were destroyed, and it seemed as if Lylat had finally found peace.

Fox had taken the role of leader of Star Fox after his father; James McCloud had been betrayed by one of his wingmen and closest friends, Pigma Dengar. Peppy, James's other best friend managed to escape the battle and bring the ill tidings to Vixie, James's wife, and Fox. Pappy had always kept an eye out for Fox, even taught him how to fly and fight. The hare had recognized the glint in the vulpine's eyes, the thirst for justice and adventure.

Peppy was not surprised when Fox confronted him about reforming the Star Fox squadron all those years ago and was more than willing to help the orange vulpine. But now, Peppy was too old to fly sorties anymore and that it was time for him to retire, or at least that was his excuse. The Great Fox, the team's home and command center only had the storage capacity to sustain four arwing fighters. Anymore would mean depleted resources from the others. Instead, Peppy decided to sit on the sidelines and monitor the battles from the Great Fox, helping in whatever way he could.

Falco Lombardi, the team's "ace pilot" as he refers to himself was without a doubt Fox's first officer. While the two of them were great friends, they were also rivals, constantly trying to outdo the other's flying skills. While Falco always claimed that he was only on the Star Fix team for the money, everyone knew it wasn't true. Falco came back to the team after hearing from General Pepper that the team was at Sauria. His time couldn't have been better either; Falco arrived just in time to put Andross back in the grave. Despite how much of a "tough guy" front the avian tried to put up, Katt, an old friend of the Star Fox team always managed to get the bird wrapped around her feline paws.

Slippy Toad, an old friend of Fox's, perhaps the oldest next to Peppy, wasn't the world's greatest pilot and often got himself into trouble earning himself the nickname "Slip-up" was an exceptional mechanic. When he began explaining things to the team he often had to stop and translate everything he said into English so the others could understand. Although he would often need saving in the skies, the frog could build an arwing from scratch with enough time and parts. During the Lylat War, General Pepper gave the team a prototype land master class tank, but Slippy modified the tank into three separate classes, light medium and heavy. After the war, Pepper adopted the designs and began to utilize them in ground engagements.

Krystal, the newest member had by far the closest relationship to Fox. Although everyone knew the two foxes had feelings for each other, neither would come out and say it. Even with her telepathic powers, Fox still wouldn't come out and say it. The vixen would flirt with Fox on a regular basis and always leave him blushing and stuttering around her. When on missions she would always fly as his wingman, despite warnings from the others about attracting too much attention. While Krystal was not the greatest pilot in the skies, she took the medal hands down for being the best fighter on the ground. Krystal often thought of using her telepathic powers to read the thoughts of her friends as an invasion of their privacy, but when it was most dire she would. Fox however, always proved difficult for her to read. Unless he told her to check his mind for something she always found an impenetrable barrier around his mind. The most she could get from him where brief glimpses or feelings.

* * *

><p>Since the defeat of the aparoids a few weeks ago, Fox had kept to himself lately. Everyone seemed to notice his change in demeanor and it changed theirs as well. Falco had become a little more level headed, Slippy much quieter, and Krystal seemed a little sad about it. Peppy watched Fox with knowing eyes though, as if he could see something the others could not. Something only age can see.<p>

The entire team was gathered in the lounge of the ship. An aquarium, at Krystal's insistence, was located near one wall with a large television next to it. A table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by a couch and two chairs. One side of the room had a window showing the beauty of the stars and planets visible. A hall behind the couch led to the mess hall, and the hall perpendicular to it led to the rec. room and crew's rooms. The hall leading behind the Television and the aquarium led to the command center on the bridge, the armory, and the hanger.

Fox sat in one of the chairs, his head resting on his fists, lost in thoughts. Krystal sat in the chair opposite of him, her tail moving sadly as she eyed the orange vulpine with concern. Peppy sat on the couch watching the news with Slippy and Falco. "-And in other news, more mysterious activity has been seen near Fichina, Cornerian officials have dispatched an investigation force to find the cause of these strange sightings," the news reporter, a brown squirrel said.

"Hey Peppy, can I talk to you?" Fox suddenly spoke. It seemed like forever since he said anything, let alone a whole sentence. Everyone in the room suddenly stopped at the sound of his voice. "Falco, you too," Fox added and with that the vulpine got up and left the room, the avian and hare following right behind him. Krystal was about to follow, but Peppy put a hand on the cerulean vixen's shoulder stopping her movement. Her emerald eyes pleaded with Peppy's aged brown ones.

"Don't worry, I'll find out what's bugging him," Peppy whispered to her.

"Thanks Peppy," Krystal replied. The vixen let out a sigh once the trio left around the corner, he ears drooping and her tail swaying sadly.

"You ok Krys?" Slippy asked. Slippy, an expect when it came to machines and technology, tended to pay less attention to the world around him as he was always thinking of how to improve this or that.

"I don't know Slippy, I just don't know," Krystal replied.

* * *

><p>"Yo Fox! What's up?" Falco asked as they turned the corner.<p>

"Not here," Fox simply replied.

"Everything alright buddy?" Falco continued. The trio pasted through the halls, the crew that they passed paid them no attention except for a salute and the "Captain on deck" call. They ventured into the hanger where Fox locked the door behind them.

"What's up Fox? You've been out of it since we finished up the aparoids," Falco tried again.

"Something just doesn't feel right," Fox replied, leaning up against the wall.

"Do explain Fox," Peppy spoke.

"I'm worried that something is going to happen, something big. Which is why I wanted to speak to you guys in private," Fox replied.

"Talk to us about what?" Falco asked.

"Falco, Peppy, think of a wall, nothing but a wall. I know it sounds strange, but I don't want Krystal to find out about this," Fox said, quickly adding the second part.

"I think I know where this is going," Peppy mused to himself. "You're worried about her, aren't you Fox?"

"Yea- Well, um… yeah, I am," Fox blushed as he absent mindedly scratched the back of his head.

"We know you like her, so just go tell her already!" Falco nudged him on the shoulder, snickering.

"Falco! I'm being serious, I have an order for the two of you," Fox shook off the avian's arm, trying to shake the blush from his face. Peppy stood up straighter, and Falco instantly became serious. "Listen in the event that something does happen, and it looks like I might not make it, get her out of there," Fox said.

"Fox, what are you saying?" Peppy asked.

"If I get singled out by the enemy, don't let her near me, they could target her to get to me. I don't care what you do; just keep her safe if a battle goes weary. The code word is "treasure box," got it?" Fox asked.

"I understand Fox," Peppy said, nodding.

"You know she's gonna be pissed when she finds out right?" Falco said.

"That's why you won't think about it, just remember the code word," Fox replied.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," Falco said reluctantly while holding his arms up in surrender.

"Thanks guys," Fox said, relieved.

"What about Slippy, should we tell him to?" Peppy asked.

"No, I'm afraid that if everybody knows about it then Krystal will be more likely to catch on, and it's not that I don't trust Slippy or anything, but he's not the best at keeping secrets," Fox answered.

"Right," Falco said, nodding. "So it that really what has been going on in your head this whole time?"

"Part of it," Fox answered as the trio began to make their way back to the lounge. The two could immediately see the difference in Fox's attitude. His tail was less twitchy; his ears didn't twitch as often either now. But most of all, they could see the relief in his facial expression, and the smile that hadn't been there for weeks.

* * *

><p>Krystal's ears and tail twitched, and instantly she turned to see Fox and the others coming back. Relief spread across her face as she saw Fox more relaxed. Slippy also noticed the change. "Hey Fox, what's up?" Slippy asked.<p>

"Don't worry about it Slippy, it's nothing, just something I needed to talk to Pep, and Falco about," Fox replied, the smile still on his face. Krystal couldn't help but smile herself.

"It's about time you ditched that frown Fox, it doesn't suit you as well as that smile," Krystal flirted.

"Ohh, um, t-thanks Krystal," Fox stuttered, his tail flicking up before settling back to where it was. Falco snickered behind Fox's back and Peppy just shoot his head, keeping himself from laughing.

"Captain McCloud!" one of the Great Fox's crew ran up and saluted, the young beagle startling Fox. If there was one thing Fox didn't like about Pepper's generosity of replacing the old Great Fox with the Great Fox mark 2, it was the strict military code of the crew that Pepper provided. Fox preferred an easier going crew that would do what they were told with stopping and saluting every time they saw him or he talked to them.

"Yes?" Fox asked.

"General Pepper wishes to speak to you," the boy replied. Most of the crew Pepper gave Fox was fresh out of the academy, here to get a taste of real combat and experience.

"We're on our way," Fox replied. The moment the words came out of his mouth, Krystal was already next to Fox, with Slippy right behind them. Falco and Peppy a few paces ahead of them.

The Bridge was lined with monitors and consoles, all of which were manned. "Captain on the bridge!" one of the officers yelled, causing all crew members to stand and salute.

"At ease," Fox said, and instantly the crew went back to their tasks.

The Bridge itself composed of two levels. The lower level, where most of the bridge crew worked handled navigation, astrocharts, sensors, communications, and weapon systems. The upper level contained the hologram table used for mission briefing, the captain's chair, and the ship's internal systems.

Fox nodded to the officer as the group gathered at the hologram table. Pepper's face appeared on a screen just above the table. The old hound still had bandages, but refused to back down from his job. "Greetings Star Fox," the General said.

"Hello General, what do you need us to do?" Fox asked.

"I see, straight to the point as always, very well. As you may have heard, there has been some suspicious activity around Fichina. We sent a Cruiser and its escorts to investigate, but we soon lost communications with them. All we received was this audio transmission," Pepper said. Them Pepper's face disappeared as a sound wave measuring chart appeared on the screen.

"This is the CLC-97 _Fortune_, we've just arrived at Fichina, nothing yet," the captain of the ship said. Suddenly, a beeping noise sounded in the background.

"Captain, you may want to take a look at this," a woman's voice said.

"Oh god wh-" the captain was cut off.

"Sir! We've just lost the _Hammerhand _and the _Steadfast_!" another voice said. Sounds of combat could be heard from the recording. An alarm started wailing.

"We've lost our shields, sir-"the speaker was cut off by static. The transmission ended, and Pepper returned on the screen.

Fox had removed the emotion from his face; Krystal looked like she had seen a ghost, her hands covering her mouth. Falco had closed his eyes and looked turned away. Slippy had his mouth agape, eyes filled with horror. Peppy merely bowed his head, his long ears drooping over his face.

"We need you to investigate this matter immediately, we'll have a battle group on standby waiting for your orders," Pepper said.

"Yes sir," Fox replied.

"Good Luck, we're counting on you," Pepper said before cutting the transmission. The atmosphere on the bridge turned cold. Everyone heard the message.

"Listen up," Fox said, getting everyone's attention. "I don't know what's out there, but whatever it is; we can't let them get away for doing that to those brave men and women. I know this a lot to ask, but please, don't think about what could happen, focus on the now, focus on your jobs, and we'll all return home safe and sound," Fox finished. The crew's faces were still pale, but they resumed their work.

With his speech over Fox immediately left the bridge and headed towards the hanger, Krystal right on his heels. "Ok team," Peppy said. "Best speed to Fichina, put us in the asteroid belt if you can, it may hinder whatever is out there.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Cernian Secret**_

**Chapter 2**

"Sir!" one of the officers on the bridge said. "We should be able to reach the asteroid field in ten hours," he told Peppy. The hare nodded.

"Good, from there we can carefully cross through it and reach Fichina undetected," Peppy said more to himself than to the others. Looking up from his own computer channel in the captain's chair he directed his attention towards the communications officer. "Tell the strike force that General Pepper is lending us to wait for us at the edge of the asteroid field."

"Yes sir!" the female pigeon answered. She immediately went to relay the order.

"Slippy, Falco, you two may want to get some rest before this mission starts," Peppy told the two pilots. Both of them agreed and left to go and get some relaxation. Turning back to the officers Peppy made another order. "I want this ship to be at full alert when you arrive, everyone at their battle stations, escape pods prepped and medical officers ready." A chorus of "yes sir's" sounded off. "R.O.B. can you handle things here? I have a previous appointment to keep," Peppy said to the old robot that had been with Star Fox since day one.

"Affirmative, good luck," the robot replied before it walked up and stood next to where Peppy was before the Hare left the bridge.

* * *

><p>Krystal tied to keep up with Fox as he worked his way through the halls, but as athletic as she was the vulpine was too fast and she lost track of him. This left Fox, who knew she tried to follow him to ease his pace and work his way to the hanger where he originally intended to go.<p>

"Damn it, why did I know something like this was going to happen, why?" he asked himself as he walked through the passage leading to the arwings. The sleek, nimble space fighters where all held safely by the magnetic lock. The ships were silver except for the blue G-diffusors and the personal emblems on the fuselage. Fox's emblem was the team's symbol; a fox with wings.

Looking at the other ships he could see Falco's emblem, a blue bird which fox figured to be the avian himself. Slippy's emblem was of two wrenches crossed under a frog head. Krystal's emblem was just some strange symbol, which Fox believed to mean something in Cernian.

The vulpine sat on the fuselage of his arwing trying to come up with a strategy for the upcoming mission. It didn't help that he didn't know what they were going up against, only that it took out a cruiser and two frigates in less than a minute. The vulpine kept running over strategy after strategy in his head checking for flaws or deadly "what if" situations. He tried to think of possible actions and decisions to make if his team where threatened. This continued for a few minutes until he realized that his thoughts and strategies had been focused mainly around protecting Krystal.

He stopped and shook his head. He wouldn't deny that he liked Krystal; he _really_ liked her, but was always too shy or nervous to say it. The way she walked, talked and laughed always left him speechless, but if he had to pick her most distinguished feature, he would say they were her eyes. Those emerald orbs captivated him like nothing ever before.

She was a telepath and her abilities had made her invaluable to the team in past battles, but her gift also scared him because he was afraid that if she could read his thoughts about her, then he would accidently scare her away and ruin the perfect friendship that they had. Of course he wanted more than that friendship, but the risks were just too great. Instead he always tried to keep himself from thinking about her, he failed miserably at it, but he never stopped trying while she was around.

He also knew that she was a very capable pilot, still a rookie compared to Falco and himself, but she was climbing the ranks fast. It was only a matter of time until she equaled Falco in skill. He could see it now, those two going at it for the "team ace" status in a friendly dogfight. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

><p>Krystal began looking everywhere for the vulpine, she checked his room, the mess hall, the shooting range, the simulation room, the armory, the lounge, and even the cargo hold. But the Vulpine had evaded her everywhere she went. She was about to check the exercise room, and if he wasn't there then she'd check the hanger.<p>

"Krystal! Wait up!" Peppy called after the blue vixen startling her and making her turn towards the sound of the voice. A look of confusion and then sudden relief spread across her face.

"Peppy?" she asked, already confident of the reason for the hare's arrival.

"You walk to fast for an old hare like me," he complained as he leaned over to catch his breathe. "One of these days one of you kids will give me a heart attack trying to keep up with you," he continued.

"Oh come on Peppy," Krystal started playfully. "I'm not that bad."

"No, you're worse," Peppy replied just as playful. "You go and get Fox wound up, and now I have to chase after both of you twice as much," he added. Krystal looked away, trying to hide a blush. The hare left out a soft laugh at her reaction. "Anyway, I believe I have a promise to keep," Peppy said getting the vixen to look at him again.

"Oh yes!" she said remembering. "What has been pressuring Fox lately?" Peppy's face darkened as he looked for the best way to put it.

"Well, Fox has this strange feeling that something bad is about to happen, and he's just been worried is all," Peppy said.

"What? What do you mean Peppy? Something terrible is going to happen?" Krystal asked confused. Peppy sighed and led Krystal to her room, the two sat down, Krystal on her bed and Peppy in the chair against the wall.

"Fox has a sort of intuition I guess you could call it. I don't really know how to explain it, but when he feels like something is going to happen, he's usually not far from the truth, and well…" Peppy trailed off.

"Peppy, what do you mean by this?" Krystal asked again. She was tempted to pry into Peppy's mind.

"I mean, sometimes Fox will get a feeling that something terrible will happen and it usually does. He always tries to change it but sometimes he can't and it scares him," Peppy said with a sad look on his face.

As Krystal listened to Peppy she searched the old hare's thoughts. She saw three foxes and a rabbit standing in front of a house, a hover car parked on the street with a pig leaning up against it, Pigma she recognized. The figures were all adults, except for a small orange kit, Fox she presumed. The hare which must have been Peppy looked her age, as did the other two foxes. One of them, a dark orange vulpine looked so much like fox, that the only difference was the shade of their fur. The other fox, a vulpine also looked a lot like fox, even with the same shade of fur. The young Fox couldn't have been more than four or five years old.

"Daddy," the young Fox said. A sad look in his eyes, the older vulpine, his father she realized bent down and picked the kit up and put him on his shoulders.

"What's wrong Fox?" the father said his voice deeper than the Fox she knew.

"Are you going to come back daddy?" Fox asked. The older vulpine merely laughed.

"Oh course I am Fox, why wouldn't I?" the vulpine answered rubbing Fox's head fur before setting him back on the ground. "Be good for your mother ok?" Fox nodded and with that the vulpine said goodbye to his wife before leaving with Peppy.

The next thing Krystal saw, it was much later in the evening. Peppy was walking up to the same house as he was at earlier, only this time he was alone. Even in his thoughts, she could feel how sad and nervous the hare was as he walked up to the door raised his hand and knocked.

Another Flash and this time Fox was in his early teens, wearing a uniform of some sort. "Don't worry Fox," Peppy said. But Fox wasn't listening, he was crying, Krystal had never seen him cry. Fox was crying and punching a wall, or at least what was left of one, something terrible must have happened.

"Peppy, what happened?" Krystal asked suddenly. Peppy realized she had just watched his memories.

"James, Fox's father was betrayed by Pigma and murdered by Andross," Peppy said. Krystal remembered the pig, how Fox had been so focused on finding Pigma and getting the core memory of the aparoids back, and seemed so relieved when the pig had finally perished. She also remembered Andross, the crazy power hungry genius who almost destroyed all of Lylat.

"Fox had always been excited when James would leave on a mission, the boy was so proud of his dad being a fighter pilot, but that day, there was something off about him. Fox wasn't excited like he normally was; he was scared like he knew something was going to happen," Peppy explained. Krystal nodded in understanding.

"Then what happened?" the vixen asked. Peppy sighed again.

"I'll tell you out of good faith that you won't mention any of this to Fox, it's more of a personal thing for him," Peppy told her. Krystal nodded in understanding again. "Fox's mother, Vixie, had tried to keep Fox happy, despite the loss of his father. She put Fox through the Cornerian Academy, but one day Fox suddenly called and said he wanted to go home, so when I went to go pick him up I asked why. All he said was that it was really important and that he needed to get home."

"When we got there," Peppy trailed off. Krystal looked down sadly her ears drooping.

"It was too late," she said. Peppy nodded.

"A drunk driver drove his hover car straight into the house; the house was destroyed, and burned to the ground. They couldn't find a trace of Vixie," Peppy continued. "Fox began to beat himself up over it, saying that he knew something was going to happen and that he should have been there, that he could have saved his mother."

"What happened next?" Krystal asked.

"Well, I took Fox in, taught him how to fly and fight, seeing as how Fox dropped out of the academy after his mother's death. We started up the new Star Fox team, just the two of us at first, Slippy joined in afterwards and then Falco. Fox and Falco, those two hit it off great, they became best friends faster than I could have imagined," Peppy trailed off in memories. One look from Krystal and he got back on track. "Anyway, one day after a mission in Sector Y, Fox urged us back to Corneria, by this time I grew wise his intuition and the Great Fox turned towards Corneria. When we exited warp space, the planet was being invaded by Andross, and since then on, well you know the rest," Peppy finished.

"So what you are saying is that Fox can have premonitions?" Krystal asked.

"Kind of, he doesn't get detailed images like many would think, he just gets sudden feelings, like they're instinct or something," Peppy explained. "James always said to trust your instincts, and my instincts tell me to trust Fox's. Which brings us back to our original discussion; Fox has been worried about what may happen. He's been wrestling with something for the past few weeks and I think something terrible may happen at this upcoming mission.

"So what, it's nothing new, if we're not careful something terrible could happen at any time," Krystal shrugged it off.

"Krystal, you don't understand, it's you he's worried about. Not me, not Slippy, not Falco, just you," Peppy clarified forcing the vixen to look him straight in the eyes. She cast one more probe into the hare's mind but all she could get was a name "treasure box." Before she could ask about it the hare's communicator blinked to life.

With the press of a button, Foxes face appeared on the small screen on Peppy's wrist. Krystal stayed outside of view of Fox's screen on the other side but allowed herself to look through Peppy's. '_So he's in the hanger then,'_ she thought to herself as she saw the inside of Fox's arwing.

"Peppy, how long until we arrive at Fichina?" Fox asked.

"We will arrive at the edge of the asteroid field in about ten hours, then we'll navigate through the asteroids on our own to try and avoid attention until we get to the planet itself," Peppy explained. Fox merely nodded on his end. The vulpine gave his thanks before cutting the transmission.

With a sigh, Peppy turned towards Krystal only to see her bushy blue tail disappear around the corner of the doorway. Peppy sighed again as the sounds of her boot's heels died out in the halls. '_This is defiantly going to be a disaster if those two don't stop acting up,'_ the old hare thought to himself.

* * *

><p>Fox now sat in the cockpit of his fighter. He was checking up on the ship's systems making sure everything was good to go at any second. His fuel checked out, G-diffusor checked out, wing aerodynamics checked out, thrusters checked out, weapons systems, Krystal siting right outside the cockpit, radar- Fox suddenly stopped.<p>

"Krystal!" He yelped in surprise. "H-how did you? When did you? Fox started stuttering as the vixen once again captured the vulpine with her eyes and her mischievous smile.

"Oh, let's see, yes it's me, I walked, and about a few minutes ago," the cerulean vixen replied. "Anyway, what have you been so uptight about?" she asked the vulpine.

"We're about to go into battle with an unknown enemy with an unknown force, of course I'm a little uptight," Fox replied.

"You know what I mean," Krystal retorted, her gaze piercing his, letting him know what she was talking about.

"I'm just worried is all," Fox said as he exited his arwing, figuring with the cerulean distraction at his side he'd get nowhere fast.

"So I guessed," Krystal remarked playfully. Then much to her surprise as both of them got off the arwing's wing, Fox pulled her into a hug. Startled for a second, the vixen decided to lay her muzzle on the crook in his neck and return the embrace. She felt safe and complete right there and it became her favorite place in the galaxy instantly.

"Listen, whatever happens, please, just stay safe ok?" Fox pleaded with her. Krystal began to blush deeply.

"Fox?" she asked almost as if this was a part of her imagination. "Alright, but only if you promise to do the same," she replied as she buried herself deeper into the vulpine's arms. '_Fox…'_ she thought to herself. The vulpine responded with a chuckle as he began to comb one of his hands through her hair.

"I'll try," he said. Krystal smiled in amusement before her smile changed to one of satisfaction as the two of them remained embraced. The two remained like that for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, Fox untangled his arms from around the vixen's body. The vixen's tail twitched irritably now that her source of warmth had left her. She also untangled her arms, although reluctantly from around his neck where they lay. The two stood just a foot apart from each other, their eyes locked on to the other's eyes. Both of them wore a satisfied smile. Fox suddenly began to blush as he realized just how close the two of them were, to which Krystal gave him that beautiful, yet mischievous smile of hers.

Looking for some way to hide his blushing fox checked his watch. "O-oh, l-look at the t-time!" He stuttered nervously. "We'll be arriving in seven hours," he added. "I think I'm going to go and get some rest before the mission," he finished quickly.

Krystal couldn't help but giggle at his antics. She smiled at the vulpine. "That sounds like a good idea, I think I'll get some rest in a few minutes too," she said. Fox nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, and Fox?" she added.

Fox turned to face the vixen. Just as he did she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Have sweet dreams," she said before walking past him. The tip of her tail brushed his chin as she passed leaving him standing there blushing like crazy.

As Krystal made her way back to her own room for some rest she couldn't help but think over everything Peppy had told her. As much as she wanted to oblige fox and look after herself, she couldn't. Even though she never told the vulpine how she felt, even though she wasn't exactly sure how he felt, she had a good idea though, she treated the vulpine like she would her mate. She treated him so because in her eyes he was her mate, and she would put everything on the line to protect him, because that was what her instincts told her to do. With another smile she realized that she was also following James McCloud's advice, to trust one's instincts.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2, I feel this chapter has more life to it than the first one. As for personal emblems on the arwings, and what happened to Vixie, I wasn't really sure so I kind of tinkered with it for the sake of the story. anyway, tell me what you think! Feedback is always appreciated.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Cernian Secret**_

**Chapter 3**

The sapphire vixen lay on her bed in her room. As she lay there trying to fall asleep, thoughts of her conversation with Peppy kept reappearing in her head. '_If Fox has some kind of premonition ability, then…' _she said to herself. Even though she had been on the team the least amount of time, she felt that she knew Fox more than some of the others. She knew that if Fox thought one of his friends were in trouble then he'd probably do something stupid, most likely getting himself seriously injured or in trouble, rather than letting a single hair, feather, or skin molecule be moved on their bodies.

Only to make matters worse, she had noticed Fox was always quick to jump to her defense and looked out for her almost as much as she did for him. The vulpine would never know how many times she had saved his life simply because she had read this person's mind or that person's, and she planned on keeping it that way. Krystal didn't take "debts" like Falco did. If the enemy came within a predetermined radius then she would eliminate them, even if there was someone after her.

That was why they worked so well on missions together, why she was the perfect wingman for Fox. To her, the vulpine was her mate, and so his life was more important to her than her own. That was what led the vixen to her current dilemma. If Fox felt that she was in danger, than he'd try anything to keep her out of the fight. Heck, the only reason she went groundside at Sauria during the Aparoid Invasion was because she knew the terrain well. At the Aparoid home world or "Aparoid City" as the team had dubbed, Krystal had been ordered to stay airborne but landed anyway because there was no way in hell she would leave Fox down there on his own without ground support. Fox wouldn't let a single hair of her fur be as much as moved, but she wouldn't even let their enemies breathe in his direction if she could help it.

With a glance at her alarm clock she saw that a whole hour had passed since she lay down. '_Fox has probably already gone to sleep by now,' _Krystal reasoned. Clearing her thoughts from her head, the vixen let her mind wander until it found the mind of the vulpine. As normal, the strange defense of his was up, but not with the intensity that it normally was. A small gap appeared to her, from it emanated pain and worry, but also compassion. She let her mind wander into it.

She saw flashes of herself, the way Fox saw her. Krystal was flattered by the way Fox sees her, she seemed to have an angelic glow about her. Before she could make a comment on it, everything suddenly began to fade away. Then she saw herself standing on a cloud of fog, Fox desperately trying to reach her. Just as the brown vulpine was within reach of "Krystal" the blue vixen faded away as if she were never there. Fox began looking around desperately, fear evident on his face. The sapphire vixen's view was suddenly clouded again and she found herself in a new scene.

The next scene was from the inside of an arwing. Krystal realized that she was looking at things from Fox's perspective in this thought. But this one felt more realistic than the others. Krystal could feel every breath, every twitch, action, or movement. She could hear the whine of the engines, and feel the vibrations from the g-diffuser. '_This is no ordinary thought,' _she realized. It may have been true; Fox may just have the ability to get premonitions.

Through Fox, Krystal began to look around. Warships were everywhere, she recognized the designs. They were ships from Fortuna just before the Aparoid Invasion. There were hundreds of ships, if not a thousand. The only friendly units were the destroyed hulls of Cornerian vessels amongst the endless hostiles. She saw on the radar nothing but yellow and red. Through the viewport of the cockpit, Krystal saw her own arwing. The fighter's targeting computer labeled her ship with a light purple, elsewhere Falco, and Slippy's ships were displayed with blue and green respectively.

She heard someone over the communication system and the inside of the arwing began to shake violently. A red light began to flash inside the fighter and another voice, a more feminine voice was heard. The arwing did a barrel roll, and several lasers shot past the arwing. The ship pulled a few loops, u-turns, and other sorts of maneuvers, shooting at targets as it passed by. The fighter destroyed frigate and flew past the wreckage. Another alarm began blaring, and it began to get louder and quicker with each passing second.

That was when she saw it as Fox pulled a u-turn to face whatever was behind him. The vixen saw a few anti-ship missiles following the vulpine. The missiles were designed to take out warships, not fighters, but these missiles had modifications made to them so they could track more maneuverable targets. The arwing came to a dead stop as it fired upon the missiles. Missile after missile was destroyed, but there seemed to be no end and the deadly projectiles came closer. At the last second just before the last missile collided with Fox, whose engine must have taken a hit from a fighter during this point, to which Krystal was wondering how that could have happened with her around. She saw her own fighter swoop in and intercept the missile. The destroyed projectile did no harm to either her or Fox. She began to fly around the disabled vulpine taking out as many foes as she could to protect him.

It seemed as if everything there wanted to kill the vulpine, and the only thing standing between them was the vixen. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Great Fox approach, using its powerful cannons to destroy any ship that got in its way. Falco and Slippy also tried to come to their aid. Then out of nowhere three strange ships dived upon the vixen's arwing. With a combined volley of laser fire the vixen's ship was torn apart and exploded.

"Nooo!" she heard Fox yell. The force of the yell forced her out of the vision until she was on the very threshold of the vulpine's thoughts. All she saw was the usual fog around his thoughts; she figured he just woke up. "_No! I-I can't let that happen, I-I won't let it happen,"_ she heard his thoughts. Fear swarmed across the vixen, threatening her hold on the vulpine's mind. Krystal was flattered, as she realized how dear she was to him, but it was quickly replaced by her own sadness and fear as she realized just how close the vulpine was to having a breakdown.

Krystal tried to ease the Vulpine anyway she could, she sent him images of just the two of them together, a risky but hopefully affective tactic, but they had little effect. She then tried to send her own feelings of compassion to him; as if covering his mind with her own. It seemed to have an effect immediately. The vulpine's emotions stopped their hurricane through his mind, and he began to ease himself back to sleep. Or at least he would have if he had not gotten up and walked towards his bathroom.

Krystal released her hold over Fox's mind and her consciousness drifted back to her own body. Looking again at the clock she noticed that only two hours remained until they would arrive at the asteroid field. Krystal decided to give herself the opportunity for a shower. Real or not, she would not let what she saw dictate her actions. She would defend her "mate" at all costs, even if it meant her death.

* * *

><p>Peppy sat on the bridge watching over the crew as they worked. Peppy had gotten a few hours of sleep, but what with his highly sensitive ears, he could hear things many people wouldn't, including when Fox had his abrupt wake up. Fox's nightmare woke Peppy up before it did the vulpine. '<em>Poor boy,'<em> the old hare thought to himself. But he decided he would not dwell on the subject, besides he figured Krystal would already be on it, and he had his own matters to attend to.

"Sir," the communications officer suddenly said, getting Peppy's attention. "I've just picked up a strange encrypted signal, should I forward it to the decryptors?" the female pigeon asked. Peppy nodded and she began to copy the code. "Sir, they detected me and terminated the feed, should I still send what we captured?"

"Yes, tell them it is priority one," Peppy replied. The comm. officer transferred the message over to the decryption experts and resumed scanning communication frequencies. After a few minutes the message was transferred back to the comm. officer.

"Sir, I just received the intercepted code. Linking it up to you," she said. Peppy read the message over before leaning back in his chair. After a moment, Peppy sighed and reached for his personal communicator.

"Falco, meet me in the armory in ten minutes," Peppy said before exiting the bridge. "Keep up the good work everyone!" the old hare called out to the bridge officers before departing.

"You got it Gramps," the avian replied. With that Peppy made his way to the Great Fox's armory. The armory itself was lined with weapons. Blasters, assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and even a few Gatling guns lined some of the walls. Other walls held scores of grenades, or sensor bombs. There were containers filled to the brim with ammunition clips for the weapons. While the blasters that all of the mercenaries carried did not require ammunition, the heavier weapons did. But weapons were not the only things in the armory.

There were also suits of body armor as well as personal barrier generators. While the generators did not last long before they died they did provide a good deal of protection to allow the user to find better cover or clear what ever obstacle was in their path. A few medical first aid packs were lined up in between weapon racks for people to take with them on missions.

In the very back of the armory there was a shooting range. The range itself was fifty yards long, and each of the ten booths had a control panel to determine the number and speed of holo-targets that would appear. The avian was already in one of the booths, shooting targets with his blaster. The lasers scoring direct hits on targets as they briefly exposed themselves from the many objects and obstacles that provided them with cover.

Peppy made his way into one of the booths next to the avian's and pulled out his own blaster. Even though Peppy was "retired" he kept his blaster with him and trained to maintain his skills in combat just in case he had to come out of retirement to rejoin the fight. As the hare fired his blaster at one of the avian's targets the bird spoke.

"So what's up Gramps?" he asked.

"We intercepted an encrypted message from Fichina," Peppy replied.

"Is that so? Why tell me, give it to Slippy," Falco replied.

"Because I believe this may shed some light on Fox's "treasure box" plan," Peppy answered. Falco stopped firing at targets, stepped out of his booth and faced the hare.

"Alright, play the message," Falco shrugged. Peppy merely held out a data pad for the bird. "What?" he asked.

"It was print only," Peppy started. "Apparently, they didn't want it to be picked up on a normal communication frequency," he finished as Falco became interested and took the pad. The avian began to read the pad.

_We have reason to believe that the Star Fox team has been contacted and are on their way. We do not know where or when they will arrive so be ready at anytime. Remember, the operation needs complete radio silence. The special defense program will prevent the telepath from detecting us; also remember aim only for the target. The boss will pay double if we can capture both, but we MUST acquire the target. I don't know why the boss wants this Cernian freak so bad, but personally I don't really care. He fears that something may go wrong so he said he'd send us some backup. The target, in case you forgot is-_

The avian read the message multiple times before looking up at Peppy. "The rest of the message was terminated, they found out we hacked them and cut the transmission," the hare said. Falco sat down on one of the benches behind the booths and rested his head on his hands.

"Damn…" he said. "I knew Fox's faith in his instincts was well placed, but damn…"

"I know what you mean Falco, I'll show this to Slippy and explain "treasure box" to him," Peppy said. "We'll be arriving in about an hour and a half, I suggest you get ready to go."

"Peppy, I'll talk to Slip," Falco said rising from the bench. He took the pad from Peppy and made to leave the armory. "After all, you're supposed to be on the bridge, and Krys might suspect something if you're not there, her and Fox are _always_ the first two there waiting for mission briefing," Falco reasoned.

"That's a good idea, very well, go ahead Falco, I'll see you on the bridge," Peppy said as he and Falco split ways as they left the armory. Falco headed towards the hanger where he knew Slippy would be doing a last minute inspection of all the arwings and Peppy went back towards the bridge.

* * *

><p>"Alright, it looks like everything is in order," Slippy said as he stepped back from the last arwing. The toad turned to the mechanics that worked under him. "Good work guys, go take a break, but be ready, we're going to arrive soon!"he told the workers. They saluted before filing out of the hanger.<p>

Slippy didn't mind being the boss of the mechanics on the Great Fox; in fact he sort of enjoyed it. It was nice not having to do everything on his own for a change, it allowed him to work on his own tasks rather than having to constantly repair this or that. The one downside was when one of the mechanics would accidentally do something wrong and not tell anyone about it, that made his life a living hell. But then, he wasn't the only one who had to deal with underlings. Peppy was in charge of the Great Fox itself being the one with the most tactical experience. Falco was in charge of the commandos on board and the few Cornerian fighter pilots on board. Krystal, being the only one on the team besides R.O.B. with exceptional medical practices, was in charge of the medical corp. Fox was in charge of everyone, being the leader of the team, but while he had to approve everyone's actions he was smart and sub-divided the responsibilities so that they would not become a chore in of themselves. Besides Fox rarely issued orders as it was, he would normally just ask his friends and wouldn't give direct orders unless talking to the forces that served them or if the situation was dire enough.

Slippy stood back to admire the arwings, the advanced space fighters had come a long way since they were first designed by his father. They originally looked more like the ancient jet fighter planes that couldn't even break at the atmosphere than space fighters. But now, looks had nothing to do with the arwing, other than to say "you're toast." The arwing mark II's were faster, sturdier, stronger, more maneuverable, and even had their own sub-space communicators. Not only could they communicate independently across the Lylat System, but they could also work independently. In the case of a lack of fuel, the ships were covered in micro solar panels that could provide enough energy to get the ships back to the Great Fox. Also with the new design, the mark II's g-diffuser system was better; the system could adjust automatically to the ship removing the need for the pilot to constantly readjust the diffusers manually.

The toad swiped his hand across the smooth polished fuselage. His emblem shined bright just underneath the cockpit. He missed his old mark I, but wouldn't be caught dead using it in combat. Especially ever since Star Wolf get the wolfen mark II's as well.

"Hey Slippy," a voice said startling the toad. Slippy turned to see Falco walking up to him, a datapad in his hand.

"Oh no, don't tell me, the simulator is broken again cause you still can't beat Fox's score?" Slippy asked mockingly. Falco shook his head. "Or did you break the holo-projector in the armory?" Again Falco shook his head. "Then, did you and Katt get into another fight and wind up with you smashing your communicator again?"

"Slippy!" Falco said snapping the toad out of his thoughts. "This is serious!" he exclaimed as he tossed the pad to Slippy. Slippy almost dropped the data pad but somehow managed to keep it in his hands. As he read the message, Falco watched him, wondering how best to approach the topic.

"Well, this is defiantly something interesting," Slippy said as he handed the pad back. "It looks like it was cut off though, where did you get it?" he asked.

"Peppy gave it to me, said they intercepted an encrypted message, this was as much as they could get before the connection was terminated," Falco answered.

"So, do we tell Fox, I mean he'll want to know," Slippy started before he was cut off.

"About that," Falco started. "Fox seemed to have kinda already thought something was up. Remember yesterday when he pulled me and Peppy aside?" the avian asked. Slippy nodded. "Well, make sure you don't think about it, literally cause Krystal will freak when she finds out, but," he trailed off.

"Just spit it out Falco," Slippy said, a little irritated.

"Well, Fox left the order "treasure box" to make sure nothing happens to her," Falco said. "He told us that no matter what, we would have to get Krystal away from Fox, even if it meant leaving him behind to die," Falco said.

"What? But Krystal has always flown as his wingman," Slippy said. "She always did a good job of it too, what got into him all of the sudden, I mean yeah, he was a bit on the quiet side since the aparoids, but why become hostile to Krystal all of the sudden?"

"He didn't become hostile to her; he's just scared out of his wits for some reason. Kind of like when he rushed us back to Corneria just before the Lylat War, and afterwards just before the aparoids," Falco replied. "And you Fox as well as I do-"the avian was cut off.

"Yeah, I see where you're going Falco," Slippy said. "So what do we do?"

"Well, If Fox gives the order "treasure box" we just have to get Krystal out of harm's way and keep it that way," Falco explained.

"You know she'll be pissed when she finds out," Slippy said with a hint of fear in his voice.

"That's exactly what I told him, but he wouldn't listen," Falco said with a chuckle. "Anyway, just remember what the word is and what it means, but don't actually think anything but the word, especially around Krys."

"I get it," Slippy said as he nodded in understanding. Falco nodded and turned to leave.

"Then I'll just leave you to whatever it was that you were doing," Falco said as he walked away.

Slippy turned his attention back to his arwing and began to ponder this new order. If it was troubling Fox so bad, then Slippy knew it was undoubtedly serious. "_Ok team, we'll be arriving in less than an hour, everyone gather on the bridge for the mission briefing," _Slippy heard Peppy say over the ship wide intercom.

'_Here we go,' _Slippy said to himself as he made his way towards the bridge. Either things were going to be really easy and nothing would happen, or a disaster was waiting around the corner. Slippy was used to these sort of situations, but nothing had Fox edged this much before, and everyone was worried for him. If not for his sudden fears, then for what Krystal would do to him if she caught wind of the order. Just the thought of it reminded Slippy to stop that train of thought and instead began formulation some more ideas for his own wacky projects.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 has ended, I hope you guys liked it. Please tell me what you think! Thanks!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Cernian Secret**_

**Chapter 4**

After dressing himself after his shower, he put his blaster on safety and put it in its holster on his belt. Afterwards he left his room and made for the bridge. Peppy was already there, and Krystal arrived shortly afterwards. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her as it always does. She just always looked so beautiful to him. He noticed that she had her retractable staff attached to her belt as well as her blaster. Before he could ask why Falco entered the bridge. Fox gave a single nod, to which the avian responded in kind.

Fox was temporarily intrigued by the fact that Falco had managed to beat Slippy there; the avian was always the last one to arrive for briefing. Looking up at the display on the holo projector Fox saw that they had less than thirty minutes before they arrived at the asteroid field and linked up with General Pepper's strike force. "Where's-"Fox started to ask when the toad in question appeared on deck. He was covered in sweat and was breathing rather heavily.

"Sorry I'm late, I was making one last check up on the arwings, and it took a little longer than I thought it would," Slippy explained still catching his breath. He turned to the sapphire vixen. "Krystal, unfortunately your arwing is in no state to fly, I-"

"What!?" Krystal exclaimed an angry look on her face. Slippy cringed under her shout.

"I think one of the younger mechanics may have screwed something up. When I checked I found your right blaster to be dysfunctional, your engines are defective, and the g-diffuser system is locked in place, I would have fixed it, but I ran out of time, I'm sorry," Slippy apologized.

Krystal snarled in annoyance, her teeth bared and her ears folded back. "It can't be helped, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to sit out on this mission," Fox said to Krystal, his tone soft and to her ears sounded relieved.

"Alright, but just be careful for me, I can't shake those fighters off your back from here," Krystal said after releasing a sigh. Her eyes became soft as did the tone in her voice; while the hurt expression remained on her face she did her best to put a smile on her face.

"I'll try," Fox replied. "Now then, on to business, we will be arriving here, where General Pepper's strike force is waiting for us," he said pointing at the holo projector where the asteroid field as well as Fichina where being displayed. "Once we meet up with them we will navigate our way through the asteroid field and perform a reconnaissance around Fichina to find any trace of the lost Cornerian ships or what happened to them. As it stands we may have to destroy any asteroids that the ships can't handle on their own as well as possibly engage whatever hostile forces there may be out there," Fox said as he explained the mission and traced their flight path on the projector.

"Is it possible that the aparoids may have returned?" Falco asked. "I mean, they were tough bugs and the bigger ones tore buildings apart like it was nothing I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were still hanging around," the avian said.

"That's highly unlikely, My dad had a few of the aparoids collected from the battle to take back Corneria City, and he said they all died immediately after the queen, besides all of the Cornerian warships are heavily armed and can take on even the largest bugs," Slippy answered.

"What about the Sargasso Space Colony?" Krystal asked.

"No, that's not likely either, I mean Wolf may be bold and unpredictable, but he isn't stupid, he wouldn't attack Cornerian forces directly, especially considering how badly he's been trying to get on Pepper's good side," Fox responded. "Venom forces maybe?" Fox suggested.

"Perhaps, but without an heir to take command, the Venom Empire should have fallen apart by now," Peppy started. "Unless Oikonny survived, made it back to his scattered fleet and regrouped," Peppy mused.

"Yes, that's possible, we never did get to confirm his death, the aparoids swarmed us before we got the chance," Fox agreed. "However, we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on our own ideas, we need proof. Just be ready for anything out there," Fox said. "Any questions?" When he received no reply he nodded. "Good, now then, let's get to it people, I want us to be ready for launch as soon as we exit warp!"

* * *

><p>As Falco, Fox and Slippy made their way to the hanger; Krystal couldn't help but them a sad glance as they left her sight. With a sigh she dropped into one of the chairs on the bridge. Coupled with her sharing one of Fox's "premonitions" and her ship suddenly breaking down, she began to feel sick to her stomach. In the back of her mind something just didn't sit right, and it made her feel even more uneasy.<p>

"It's alright Krystal, I'm sure they will be fine," Peppy said, trying to offer the vixen a smile. "You can help me observe from here on the bridge if you like," he suggested.

"This isn't right, I should be going out there with them," Krystal said as she buried her face in her hands trying to settle her nerves.

"Krystal," Peppy tried to calm her down, but to no avail.

"I-I saw one of his premonitions, I felt it," Krystal said. She suddenly shot up out of the chair. "Peppy! We're flying straight into a trap!" she exclaimed.

"Krystal, we know," Peppy said calmly. Krystal's eyes widened her tail and ears tensed.

"What?" she asked.

"We know we're going right into a trap, Pepper does too, and that's why he sent a battle group to help us. The Star Fox team, while often acting as a mercenary group is in fact a special operations unit. One of two in the Cornerian military branch, we have as much freedom as we want but we are assigned the most dangerous missions, missions that would normally be too costly for regular soldiers and pilots," Peppy began.

Krystal shook her head. "No! That's not what I mean!" She continued. "Th-" she was cut off as Rob activated the ship wide intercom.

"Now exiting warp space, all hands to battle stations," Rob said in his mono tone voice over the ship wide intercom. The two turned to look out the bridge past their robotic assistant to see the asteroid field suddenly appear on the ship's viewports as it exited warp space. The massive rocks rotated and crashed into each other, but seemed to be locked in a preset orbital as they drifted by. Further away from the asteroids the fleet that Pepper sent was already waiting. Krystal could easily count at least ten large Cornerian Cruisers as well as each of their frigate escorts. The sleek triangular like ships looked a lot like arrowheads from their viewpoints.

"We're being hailed by the _Sojourn _would you like me to patch it through?" The communications officer said almost instantly.

"Yes," Peppy answered immediately. A few quick seconds later and the image of a cocker spaniel appeared on the screen.

"Welcome _Great Fox_, I am Commander Howard, Captain of the cruiser, _Sojourn_, and commanding officer of this task force, we are at your service," he said as he removed his hat and bowed his head before putting his hat back on. "You have impeccable timing, we arrived just moments ago, but now down to business, out long range scanners can't find anything in the asteroids or around Fichina, not even any trace of the _Fortune, Hammerfall,_ or the _Steadfast._ No signs of life, no escape pods, no scrap metal, no sign of the ships at all," The commander said.

"Did you try beta radiation?" Slippy asked through his own communicator.

"No signs of beta radiation either, it's as if they were never here," Howard replied. "However, we have managed to pinpoint the exact location where the _Fortune_ sent her last transmission," he added.

"Well, that's better than nothing," Fox mused. "Alright, here's the plan, Falco, Slippy and I will fly a path through the asteroid field and checkout the last known location of those ships, commander, if we run into trouble I want you to scramble your fighters and defend the _Great Fox_. Peppy, the Fox is yours," Fox said through his communicator.

"Roger that Fox," Peppy replied.

"As you wish Captain Mc Cloud," Howard replied.

* * *

><p>Fox looked off to his side where he saw that except for the arwing to his immediate right, the rest of his team was preparing for takeoff. When the <em>Great Fox II<em> was completed it had a much larger hanger than its predecessor. Cornerian fighters could be seen on both sides of the hangers, some of them the fast sleek interceptors while the others were the heavily armored fighters. He could even see Peppy's old arwing that they brought aboard, much to the old hare's delight.

The engineering teams shuffled about doing their usual checkups. Making sure the ships were in pristine working order and that everything was in working order. Ending the public communications line with the bridge, Howard, and the rest of his team, Fox opened a private channel with Slippy's ship.

"Thanks, for grounding Krystal slip," Fox said. "It really puts my mind at ease."

"Falco filled me in on your contingency plan, so I just did my part, nothing special," Slippy replied casually.

"Magnetic locks disengaged," Rob's robotic voice sounded out across the hanger.

"Hanger shield is down, you are clear to launch when ready," one of the crew said from the hanger control room.

"Remember, we don't know what's out there so be prepared for anything, our objectives are to locate any sign of the lost Cornerian vessels and investigate the strange activity around Fichina," Peppy said over the inter comm. "We'll be right behind you, so good luck," he finished.

"Be careful Fox," Krystal said to him on a private channel. On the visual screen he could see her. It pang his heart to see her look so distressed, she had one of her hands resting over her heart, her ears folded back in concern, her tail hung limp, and her face looked like she was about to cry. He vowed to do his best to never make her look like that again, but he had to focus on the mission.

"I'll try," he responded trying to offer the vixen a smile. She tried to respond with one in kind, but only the corners of her lips twitched upwards, her emerald orbs still lashing at him with worry and concern.

"I'll be watching you every step of the way," She said before she cut the link.

"Alright team, launch!" Fox ordered as soon as his engines came to life. The feeling of being launched from the hanger never got old, the roar of the engines staring and the rush of adrenaline just made him feel so alive. While Falco and Slippy made a quick run around the fleet, Fox circled the _Great Fox_.

Unlike its predecessor, the _Great Fox II_ was nearly twice the size of the original, sporting two main hangers, one for fighter crafts and the other for landing crafts. The armor was much thicker and tougher. Anti-fighter guns as well as anti-ship cannons were placed strategically along the hull to cover up any blind spot that the dreadnaught may have had. The three massive engines had enough power to propel the ship at just a third of their normal power and able to reach warp speeds on its own, a very rare feature for ships. The primary weapons that the previous _Great Fox_ had had been greatly improved, instead of one set of hyper cannons, now rested two, one set on each side of the ship's main hull. The Star Fox colors were painted on the ship, the four massive wings were blue with white along the edges and the hull had two thick blue strands leading all the way up to the bridge. Next to it laid the Star Fox emblem in all of its glory.

On the outside the ship looked terrifying, but Fox knew that it was even scarier to go up against, the ship had two separate shield generators locked away safely inside the ship and the inside itself was armed to the teeth with security turrets and other obstacles that invaders would have to overcome. Satisfied with the massive dreadnaught Fox flew back in the direction of the asteroids just as Falco and Slippy rejoined him.

* * *

><p>"Be careful Fox," Krystal said more to herself than anyone else as the blue blur flew straight past the bridge's viewport. As she watched the other two arwings rejoin the flight lead, they formed a loose formation and dived straight into the asteroids. The Cernian vixen tried to use her powers to sense any life forms on the other side of the space rocks. She couldn't sense anything. It wasn't like the high frequencies that had threatened her when she tried to read the aparoids' minds or like any of the inhabitants of Sauria, it wasn't even like trying to get into Fox's mind. There was just a void of cognitive life out there, and it made her worry.<p>

"I should be out there," she said again. "He-they need me out there Peppy, I have to go!" she argued.

"Krystal, if you went out there right now, you'd probably be pulverized into dust by those asteroids, your arwing just isn't in a condition to fly!" Peppy replied. The old hare turned to see the vixen relaying orders to the repair crews on the bridge to have her ship repaired as soon as possible. "I know you're concerned, but you can't afford to let your emotions control you!"

"Let my emotions control me!?" Krystal growled. Baring her teeth Krystal growled in frustration, her fists were balled and her tail flicked irritated. "I saw Fox's "premonition" Peppy," she said. "I know what has had Fox so concerned, but his concern is placed in the wrong spot."

"What do you mean Krystal?" the old hare asked, settling down into his chair, not taking his eyes off of the radar screen on other screens he being projected from a hologram on his chair panel.

"Fox was having a nightmare, so I slipped into his mind to try and sooth him, and I saw it, this "premonition" ability you mentioned," Krystal began to explain. "We're flying straight into a trap Peppy," she tried to reason.

"Yes, I know that, and as I already told you, we knew that when we received the mission," Peppy continued, turning his attention back to the screens.

"You're not listening to me!" the sapphire vixen roared, startling everyone on the bridge. "They're after Fox," she said in a much softer tone. "From what I saw, he's afraid I might die protecting him, but if we don't help them he will die Peppy," Krystal pleaded.

Peppy stopped what he was doing as he considered the vixen's words. '_Remember, only aim for the target… Capture both… Cernian freak,' _he remembered reading. Both. He suddenly took a look back at Krystal, the worry still evident on her face. The only foxes he'd ever met were James, Vixie, Fox, and Krystal, no others. Suddenly all the pieces that had been stumbling around in his head suddenly slammed into place. "Oh damn it," he cursed under his breath.

"Peppy?" Krystal asked stepping closer to the hare out of concern; she'd never heard him cuss once since she'd met him.

"We were wrong," Peppy continued, without realizing Krystal was within hearing range.

"Wrong? Wrong about what?" she asked. When she saw the hare visibly recoil in shock she probed his mind. She saw everything, from the intercepted message to the special meeting with Fox and Falco. Peppy could tell by the look on her face exactly what she was thinking.

"Krystal, I'm sorry, we thought they would be after you, I-I'm sorry," Peppy said crestfallen, ears drooping. Krystal bit back a growl, turned and stormed off the bridge.

"How long until my ship is repaired?" she demanded in a harsh angry voice.

"Just a few moments until the scans are complete, but we haven't found anything wrong with your arwing ma'am, I do believe it is in perfect working condition" the crew hand replied. A furious growl came from the vixen as she continued towards the hanger, reaching the elevator that led to the hanger bay where she could get to her arwing she had a few seconds to compose herself. A series of emotions were wagging war in her right now, fear and anxiety for Fox's well being, absolute fury for them trying to hide her from the fight, joyous relief for not being the last of the Cernians, and irritating for the current situation. She tried once again to sense anything beyond the asteroids, but she couldn't even sense Fox or the rest of the team anymore. She hoped it was just because of the fact that her emotions were out of control and that she couldn't focus, but deep down she feared that was not the case.

The moment the elevator reached the deck where her arwing was waiting for her, leaping over the guard rail, not even waiting for the door to open she made for the advanced fighter. Sprinting over she leapt into the cockpit and began the startup sequences. It was just as the engineer said, not a thing was wrong with her ship. Realizing she had no time to be angry, she launched herself out of the hanger and soared for the asteroids.

* * *

><p>"Fox," Peppy tried to radio the team leader. "Krystal knows about "Treasure box, I repeat, Krystal knows," Peppy said into his communicator. When no reply was heard, he tried again. "Fox?" Peppy asked after another unsuccessful attempt. Eyes going wide, the old hare ordered a fleet wide transmission.<p>

"Launch all ships! Something is wrong and we're going to get our team out of there!" he ordered as he had the _Great Fox_ pull towards the head of the fleet as all of the fighters began to scramble. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Krystal's arwing already gaining a steady lead over them. "God's speed Krystal," Peppy said to himself as his the bridge became swarming with activity to respond to the mobilizing fleet.

**The long overdue chapter four, now for those of you who are confused, you're supposed to be. Cause the next chapter takes things from the rest of the team's perspective so you can find out what's actually happening. I appreciate any feedback you wish to provide me with and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Till next time!**


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